by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 9:15 AM ET, Thu August 1, 2024
The new Traffic Safety Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Fatal Crashes in 2020–2022 report, created by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, found that drivers in America engaged in more dangerous driving behaviors during the pandemic, leading to more fatalities on the roads.
Travelers are engaging in riskier behaviors, such as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, not using seatbelts and speeding, leading to more traffic fatalities than prior to the pandemic.
The new research found that, from May 2020 through December 2022, 114,528 people were killed in traffic crashes across the nation, which is 17 percent higher than predicted prior to the pandemic. Teens aged 16-19 were the highest age group killed.
The increase in deaths was almost entirely among those who weren’t wearing their seatbelts: a strict commonality that underscores how preventable many of these deaths could have been.
The study also found that Black and Hispanic American people were increasingly more likely to die in traffic fatalities: while these groups comprise 12 percent and 19 percent of the U.S. population, Black Americans accounted for about 34 percent of the rise in traffic fatalities, while Hispanic Americans accounted for about 25 percent of the increase.
“It’s time for transportation leaders to walk the talk about curbing traffic deaths,” said Jake Nelson, AAA’s director of traffic safety and advocacy. “I think this research illuminates a path towards zero traffic deaths for the nation, which is to target resources and solutions to the people who experience a disproportionate burden of traffic deaths on our roads–lower socioeconomic and minority groups.”
The report even analyzed where and when the increased traffic fatalities occurred: the roads that saw the greatest amount of growth across the nation during this period were urban roads, from smaller streets to urban interstates and freeways. The times that saw the greatest growth in fatalities were at night: from 10:00 p.m. to 1:59 a.m. and from 2:00 a.m. to 5:59 a.m.
This is an important report, as the Transportation Department also found that Americans drove 11 percent less in 2020 than in 2019, yet the rate of traffic fatalities increased. In 2021, Americans drove 3 percent less than in 2019, but the increase in fatalities was still elevated.
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